The Key To My Happiness — It’s Called “Development”

BusinessThe Key To My Happiness — It’s Called “Development”ByTamar Gakharia,Forbes Books Author.for Forbes BooksAUTHOR POSTExpertise and opinions of authors published by ForbesBooks. Imprint operated under license. | Paid ProgramJun 17, 2026, 10:32am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.The key to happiness is to keep growing and developing, even through hardship.gettyFor years, I thought I knew what would make me happy.I wanted freedom from the chaos that defined my childhood. I dreamed of finding love and building a family. I hoped for the success and recognition that would come from a significant career. Basically, I thought happiness meant the absence of struggle, the presence of love, and the validation of achievement.And I was partly right. My children, my family, and my career all bring me joy beyond measure—exactly the kind of happiness I always knew they would. That part wasn’t a surprise.But there was something else I didn’t expect.When I look back at the moments when I felt most alive, most myself—they weren’t always peaceful or easy. They were moments of growth. Of becoming something I hadn’t been before. Amazingly, my happiness has been tied to my development.I was always happiest at the top of my class, not because of the achievement but because of all the things I was learning. I was happiest in the countryside with my grandfather, learning to drive before I could see over the wheel, learning to shoot, to be self-sufficient. I was happiest traveling through Europe with theater troupes, learning routines and lines, absorbing new languages and cultures.The pattern was always there. I just didn’t recognize it.I’m a learner. That’s who I am at my core. I’m not a person who arrives at happiness—I find happiness in continuous growth.When I joined CBS Group at 25, I wasn’t just taking a job. I was choosing a life of perpetual development. Every restructuring teaches me somet...